Are you traveling to Thailand for holidays or other reasons? If yes, your safety should be your main priority as you try to explore the things that this Southeast Asian country has to offer. So, you might be wondering whether there is a tsunami season in Thailand so that you can avoid the calamity associated with it.
There is nothing called the tsunami season in Thailand or other places around the globe. This is because tsunamis are caused by an earthquake in the ocean, which is a natural occurrence that can happen at any time. Therefore, it is difficult for anyone to predict the specific time that tsunamis will occur in Thailand or other countries; hence, we don’t have a tsunami season.
Given this, you might be thinking that visiting Thailand exposes you to the risk of experiencing tsunamis. But the truth is that tsunamis rarely occur in Thailand. So, you can travel to Thailand or even live in the country for numerous decades without dealing with this natural occurrence.
What are tsunamis?
A tsunami is a natural occurrence caused by a seismic eruption such as an earthquake. When the eruption hits the ground of an ocean, it usually leads to massive tidal waves that cause strong force on land and other things around the ocean. As a result of the strong force, tsunamis are known to lead to huge destruction of various things around them.
According to Weather.gov, tsunamis come in different sizes and speeds. While it may be difficult to notice some tsunamis, others can move as quickly as 500mph. In other words, a destructive tsunami can move like a jet. However, after reaching its peak, the speed of the tsunami will reduce significantly. Nevertheless, it could have caused enough damage already.
As noted by Askinglot.com, around two tsunamis take place every year around the globe. However, most of them only affect the things close to the site of occurrence. Besides, they usually occur in areas already associated with tsunamis. These areas are already prepared for the occurrence; hence, the destruction is often minimal. Therefore, you may not hear much about such regular tsunamis. Notably, Thailand is not one of the countries that experience such regular tsunamis.
Nonetheless, a powerful, destructive, and ocean-wide tsunami usually takes place at least once every 15 years. Such an ocean-wide tsunami is devastating and may affect numerous countries around the world.
Why don’t tsunamis affect Thailand often?
If you intend to visit Thailand, you should understand that the country doesn’t experience tsunamis regularly. In general, tsunamis, typhoons, and other powerful storms rarely take place in the Land of Smiles.
This is because this country is located in the heart of Southeast Asia. Therefore, if any natural disaster is coming from the ocean, it would have been absorbed by the other countries surrounding Thailand. Even if a tsunami would affect Thailand, it would likely cause less harm in the country than the majority of its neighbors.
What were the biggest tsunamis recorded in Thailand?
Although Thailand doesn’t usually experience tsunamis, the country has had its share of the worse tsunamis in the world. According to Worlddata.info, the latest big tsunami to have hit Thailand took place in 2007. This tsunami had a magnitude of 8.4 and a maximum tidal wave of only 0.020m. Fortunately, this tsunami didn’t cause any death in Thailand.
As you probably would have heard, the biggest and deadliest tsunami recorded in Thailand took place on the 26th of December, 2004. Otherwise regarded as the Indian Ocean tsunami, this destructive tsunami claimed lives, destroyed properties, and so on. According to Study.com, around 230,000 people died in this 2004 tsunami in different countries.
As noted by Worlddata.info, Thailand lost 8,212 people to this extremely deadly 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Britannica says that Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand had the lion’s share of the effects of the tsunami. Nevertheless, other countries already suffered from its effects.
According to theories, the biggest victims of the 2004 tsunami didn’t have any protective measures in place. This is because many of these countries didn’t experience massive tsunamis before the period. Therefore, when the tsunami hit them, its effect was colossal and unavoidable.
What countries have recorded the most tsunamis?
When it comes to tsunamis, Thailand does not experience lots of them. In fact, it is not on the list of the top 25 countries most affected by tsunamis. This is because this natural disaster hardly happens in the country. According to Stacker.com, the following are the countries with the most recorded tsunamis in history:
- Japan
- United States
- Indonesia
- Greece
- Chile
- Italy
- Russia
- Philippines
- New Zealand
- Papua New Guinea
- Peru
It is noteworthy that each of these aforementioned countries has experienced tsunamis at least 70 times in its history. So, you are likely going to encounter tsunamis in the states of California, Washington, and Oregon in the USA than in Thailand. The US has recorded tsunamis more than 260 times; hence, the country is only second to Japan on the list.
However, it is worthwhile to understand many of the countries on this list have only witnessed small tsunamis. These tsunamis didn’t cause any catastrophic effects on the countries. On the other hand, Thailand has recorded a lesser number of tsunamis. Hence, Thailand and many other Southeast Asian countries are not on the list of countries with the most recorded tsunamis. But Thailand was affected by the extremely destructive 2004 Indian Ocean tsunamis. As a consequence, Thailand has lost more people and properties to tsunamis than some of the names on the list.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, there is no tsunami season in Thailand because this natural disaster can take place at any time. Nevertheless, you should understand that Thailand hardly experiences tsunamis because it is shielded by many other SE Asian countries. So, if you are planning to visit the Land of Smiles, you should not allow your worries about tsunami to stop you from exploring the beauty of this astonishing country.
